


the death of all flags

by haipollai



Category: The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Abusive Relationship, Alternate Universe - Dark, Blood, Character Death, M/M, Villain Steve, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-10
Updated: 2013-03-10
Packaged: 2017-12-04 21:37:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/715362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haipollai/pseuds/haipollai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The point was to destroy James Rhodes. To take out the War Machine before he became a real threat.</p>
<p>Three days later James comes hobbling into their new base. The War Machine is not dead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the death of all flags

**Author's Note:**

> Title from the Death of a Hero by Abney Park  
> Please heed all warnings in the tags. This is not a nice verse, full archive is over [here](http://troublesteady.tumblr.com/post/42217854504/masterpost-sometimes-the-bad-guys-win)

The point was to destroy James Rhodes. To take out the War Machine before he became a real threat.

Three days later James comes hobbling into their new base. The War Machine is not dead.

-

Steve’s fist pounds into Tony’s face, denting his metal jaw. Steve feels as the metal detaches from bone and bone shatters under his fist. He feels skin break open, letting blood spill out over his hands.

By the time Natasha gets him to stop, Tony will have more then a jaw to replace. His face is a mess, caved in and smeared with red. Blood drips from Steve’s knuckles. Steve who usually tries to keep himself so clean, letting his Soldier do his bloody work, has blood on his hands.

Except his Soldier is scarred and damaged in ways that only Steve himself is allowed to do. And while James Barnes was out on his missions, everyone forgot it was Steve Rogers who was the super soldier. Steve who can tear them all apart limb from limb without breaking a sweat. Everyone sees this new reminder. Not even Tony Stark with his guns dedication is safe. The rest of them are pawns.

“Your job was an easy one,” Steve snarls, shrugging of Natasha’s hand. He kicks at Tony's stomach, checking himself before he crushes anything too vital. Stark still has his purposes. Steve did not go through so much effort to break him only to kill him too soon. "There was only one man to kill."

Tony chokes on his own blood.

“Give the Soldier protection from fucking Rhodes so Rhodes could be taken out.” He is moving again, Tony’s ragged shirt fisted in one hand, the other posed to strike. Except he doesn’t. He pauses and with slow deliberate movements, wipes the blood from his hand off on Tony’s shirt before dropping him again. Leaving him on the ground like a broken toy. “We’ll try again. Make this right Stark or I'll start to doubt your loyalties.” His tone becomes almost conversational. Everyone watching shies away, this is worse than his anger and he knows it. Terror bred into love, but terror nonetheless. “Do you know Hammer has tried to get into contact with me? He says he has some tech I might be interested in.”

Tony shakes his head hard, gurgling a ‘no, I can do it.’ Blood splatters onto Steve’s shoes. With an aggravated sigh, he steps down hard on Tony’s shoulder. Not enough to break anything, but he's not getting up again.

“And there is always little Peter.” He sighs in disgust and turns away. “Someone fix him,” he says dismissively, not even turning around.

-

James opens his eyes to Steve standing over him.

“I’m sorry. I failed,” he whispers.

Steve touches the bandages on his stomach, digging into the burn wound until Bucky arches and moans. Some lingering rationality says he shouldn’t, that he should move away from the pain. But Steve’s touch always hurts and it makes him achingly hard. “You did the best you could.”

“Still-”

Steve quiets him with a look. “Stark failed. I’ve seen to it he doesn’t do so again.” James licks his lips, still breathing hard, he chokes off whatever he was going to say when Steve kneels on the edge of the bed. “You managed to come back alive.”

“Of course.”

Steve’s fingers close loosely around his neck and James moans, hungrier then before. His eyes close, the ultimate example of trust from him. “Good, you still know your place.”

“Yours,” James gasps. It doesn't even need to be said. James Barnes belongs to Steve Rogers, the Soldier eternally loyal to his Captain. James is naked except for his bandages and without loosening his grip on James' neck, Steve starts to stroke his cock, slow and sure. "Captain?" He gasps, his voice already coming out raw.

"I reward those who serve me well, you know that." He leans close enough his hot breath burns James' skin. "And it's a promise, kill James Rhodes and I'll make you feel even better."

-

James watches Tony, bandaged up now, but still bruised and hurting. Still a broken wreck from the Captain's beating. Everyone knows about Tony’s feelings. His affection for the Captain. Just as James knows that everyone expects him to be jealous, but they don’t understand. He belongs to the Captain, the rest doesn’t matter. The mission is what matters, and at the end of it, Steve would be the one to kill him. It didn’t matter who he stuck his cock into. He isn't presumptuous enough to think he has a claim to it.

That's the difference between himself and Tony. Tony who thinks he's special, who thinks because he's half metal, he's more then human. Tony Stark thinks that the Captain needs him and James wants to rub his face in how wrong he is.

“You were friends with James Rhodes,” he says, finally announcing himself as he saunters in slowly, moving into Tony’s space.

“I was. In another lifetime,” Tony answers sharply, not looking up from his designs.

James rests his chin on Tony’s shoulder, feeling him draw in a sharp breath. He doesn't know if it's fear or lust and he doesn't care. “Are you sure of that?” The bandages around Tony's jaw scratch James' cheek with each syllable. 

He feels the way Tony’s stomach clenches, he wants to turn and face him but he doesn’t dare. James holds the power here and they both know it. “I’m sure. I fucked up, but I’ll do better.” James hums softly, touching his lips to Tony’s neck. His eyes meet Tony’s little helper Peter’s, trying to hide in a corner and he smirks.

“Do you remember, our first time? That was nothing Stark, and you know that,” James murmurs. Another shaky breath from Tony and James lets his hand drift lower, groping him through his pants. “Good to see that Steve didn’t hurt you down here. But then, the Captain does know what you’re good for.”

“I’ll do anything,” Tony whispers, voice cracking. The sound of a desperate man. James longs for the day he's allowed to cut into Tony, make him understand what desperation really is. But Steve will be angry if James does anything without orders.

“Give me a way to destroy War Machine.” He turns and walks away, not giving Tony a chance to respond. He’s bored listening to him beg. The sound of someone chasing after him makes him pause, Tony would never have the guts. He's too busy sniveling over his inventions. He turns to see Peter, almost sixteen now. A child prodigy brought up by them.

“Are you going to kill him, sir?” He asks out of curiosity. There's no concern or worry in his voice.

“Not today.”

“Sir-”

James moves too fast for Peter to stop him and pins him to the wall. He makes no games of caring or concern. Peter is thin, it’s easy to lift him off the floor. “You do not push or prod. When the Captain is ready, you’ll replace Stark. Not before. I do not care what kind of genius you are, I’ll destroy you if you try again.”

“Yes, sir.”

James drops him.

-

It's not hard to stage another confrontation with War Machine. The US Army is eager to wipe them off the map and so they act with no plan and no thought. They send their best weapon into an obvious trap. Jessica's whispers to Danvers helped things along. But any mention of the Captain and his Soldier makes Washington jumpy.

In the end the Soldier gets his face off with War Machine. They both know that only one of them is walking away this time. James grins, his blood pumping, pounding in his ears. He shifts his grip on the knife, making sure that Rhodes attention is on it, but Rhodes isn't fooled that easily. He knows the Soldier has something else up his sleeve. He attacks, guns blazing and James knows he's going home injured again.

But this time he's going home with another notch in his belt and blood on his hands.

The first part of Tony’s weapon works, it works marvelously. War Machine’s armor is disabled, leaving him trapped in a useless hulk of metal. James sneers down at him and drives a knife through a shoulder joint until it reaches flesh. He can't hear anything through the helmet so tears the face off. James Rhodes snarls up at him.

“Do you want to know a secret?” James smiles flatly. The dead and dying are the best to share secrets with. Taunting them with information always leads to delicious reactions. He twists the knife just for added fun.

“Fuck you,” Rhodes hisses, valiantly trying to ignore the pain. A good soldier, it's almost disappointing that the Captain had no use for him. But some people were blind, they couldn't see the inevitable and had to be removed.

“Tony Stark designed the weapon that’s going to kill you.” He leans in so Rhodes can feel his breath ghosting over his skin. So close but out of his reach. The frustration in Rhodes face almost makes him laugh in excitement. He wishes Steve could be here for this. To watch him destroy this man, to see it as he realizes he's going to die. “Tony Stark is your murderer.” He pulls out the knife and smears the blood over Rhodes' cheek.

"Then what the fuck are you?"

"Trying to keep calm, I admire that." He drags the edge of the blade over Rhodes' forehead and down his nose. He watches the blood pool and run down to an eye. "I'm just the bullet, Colonel. A soldier like you should appreciate that."

He lifts the knife and brings it down hard, driving it through Rhodes' eye socket and into his brain. He can barely even feel it as Rhdoes' body twitches in the suit until he is as dead as the metal he's encased in.

He doesn’t bother doing anything to dispose of the body, he wants everyone to see what happened.

-

Steve is with Natasha, discussing new plans when James returns. He stands at attention, waiting for Steve to notice him. Ignoring the throbbing ache in his leg where a bullet hit him and the burn on his arm from a graze. He ignores it and waits. 

When Steve is finally done, he leans against the table the plans were all laid out on, arms crossed over his chest. Natasha takes her time gathering her things before excusing herself. "Report," Steve orders.

“He’s dead, Captain."

"You are sure?"

"Yes, sir."

He moves close enough to touch. "Let me see." James nods, quickly stripping out of his uniform. His skin is laced with scars, old and new. A tale of his life written for anyone who knew how to read it. His newest injuries had only received field dressings and were a vicious red against his skin. Steve's expression barely changes but James knows him well enough to see the lust there. "Over the desk."

James obeys without question, bracing his hands on the hard surface, legs apart. Vulnerable and exposed. His training tells him he should be anxious at giving up so much control but this is Steve, this is his Captain. James would give him everything.

"How did he die?" Steve's voice comes just behind him, just out of reach.

"Knife through his eye, into his brain." He closes his eyes, picturing the scene all over again. "There was blood on my hands. It covered his face."

"He shot you." Steve's fingers brush over the graze, his nail scraping over the cut, drawing a long gasp from James.

"I wanted him to fight. Wanted him to hope." James continues, hands tightening into fists as if he can hold back his arousal as Steve's fingers move to the bullet wound, reopening the stitches. James feels blood on his skin and Steve smears his fingers through it. "He died angry and betrayed."

Steve's fingers curl around his cock. There's no love or caress to his touch, James wouldn't want it. He presses against James' back, his own erection obvious. "He knew about Stark's involvement?"

"Told him," James gasps, losing his fight to keep still. Steve chuckles when James hips jerk forward into his fist. "He wanted to strangle me, could see it in his eyes." Steve growls wordlessly in his ear, and shoves him down hard on the desk, his head hitting the wood with a dull thud. Steve holds him down by his neck, until James is gasping for each ragged breath.

"Don't play games, Barnes." 

"No one else," he gasps. His cock throbs in time with the ache in his head. His blood is on Steve's hands and smeared over his skin.

"You did well today," Steve murmurs, his grip loosening slightly on James' neck, but there would be bruises later. A collar of blue and purple. "You deserve a reward for that, just as i promised." James moans wordlessly, ready for whatever his Captain would give him.

-

Carol Danvers buries her head in her hands. James Rhodes is dead, he had to be physically cut out of the suit. Their best weapon against the Captain lies in pieces in a CIA lab. The lab rats can't even figure out how the Soldier managed to disable the armor.

A hand curls around the nape of her neck and massages gently.

"Don't worry about it Carol, come to bed." Lips brush against her temple. "Put it away. It's not that important."

Carol sighs, immediately feeling better. She smiles up at her partner, letting herself be pulled to her feet. "How'd I get so lucky with you?"

Jessica laughs, walking backwards and keeping her eyes on Carol. "I don't know, I'm sure I'm the lucky one." Carol smiles, the files forgotten, not important. James Rhodes was dead, and he'd still be dead in the morning.


End file.
